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The Mad/Bad/God Trilemma: a Reply to Daniel Howard-Snyder

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The Mad/Bad/God Trilemma: a Reply to Daniel Howard-Snyder Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers Volume 21 Issue 4 Article 4 10-1-2004 The Mad/Bad/God Trilemma: A Reply to Daniel Howard-Snyder Stephen T. Davis Follow this and additional works at: https://place.asburyseminary.edu/faithandphilosophy Recommended Citation Davis, Stephen T. (2004) "The Mad/Bad/God Trilemma: A Reply to Daniel Howard-Snyder," Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers: Vol. 21 : Iss. 4 , Article 4. DOI: 10.5840/faithphil200421438 Available at: https://place.asburyseminary.edu/faithandphilosophy/vol21/iss4/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at ePLACE: preserving, learning, and creative exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers by an authorized editor of ePLACE: preserving, learning, and creative exchange. THE MAD /BAD / GOD TRILEMMA: A REPLY TO DANIEL HOWARD-SNYDER Stephen T. Davis The present paper is a response to Daniel Howard-Snyder's essay, "Was Jesus Mad, Bad, or God? .. Or Merely Mistaken?" I reply to two of Howard-Snyder's arguments, one based on the notion of "dwindling probabilities" and the other based on the stories he tells to rationalize the possibility that Jesus was "merely mistaken." Since neither argument accomplishes its purpose, I conclude that Howard-Snyder has failed to refute the Mad/Bad/God argument in favor of the incarnation. I Many Christians are familiar with a popular apologetic argument in favor of the divinity of Christ called lithe Trilemma" or lithe Mad/Bad/God argument." (I will call it the MBG argument.) It has been defended most famously by C.S. Lewis/ but also by other Christian apolo­ gists since Lewis. I have recently argued that the MBG argument can be used to establish the rationality of belief in the incarnation of Jesus.2 But now Professor Daniel Howard-Snyder has subjected the MBG argu­ ment to a rigorous critique.3 He summarizes the argument as follows: 1. Jesus claimed, explicitly or implicitly, to be divine. 2. Either Jesus was right or he was wrong. 3. If he was wrong, then either a. he believed he was wrong and he was lying, or b. he did not believe he was wrong and he was institutionalizable, or c. he did not believe he was wrong and he was not institutionaliz­ able; rather, he was merely mistaken. 4. He was not lying, i.e., a is false. 5. He was not institutionalizable, i.e., b is false 6. He was not merely mistaken, i.e., c is false. 7. So, he was right, i.e., Jesus was, and presumably still is, divine. Interestingly, Howard-Snyder is prepared to grant the truth of premise (1), which many people would consider the most controversial premise of the FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY Vol. 21 No.4 October 2004 480 All rights reserved A REPLY TO DANIEL HOWARD-SNYDER 481 argument, as well as the truth of (4), and (5). It is premise (6) that he ques­ tions. That is, Howard-Snyder denies that the MBG arguer can sensibly rule out the possibility that Jesus was "merely mistaken" in believing him­ self to be divine. II Let us then consider the case that Howard-Snyder makes. I will focus on just two of his arguments: (1) his use of the "dwindling probabilities" argu­ ment (the DPA); and (2) the stories he uses to rationalize the possibility that Jesus was neither mad nor bad but merely mistaken in claiming to be divine. The DP A is a strategy that Howard-Snyder borrows from Alvin Plantinga. In his Warranted Christian Belief," Plantinga argues that a faithful acceptance of the Christian gospel must be a gift of God. It is not some­ thing that human beings can, so to speak, recognize and accept quite on their own. Nor can a convincing natural theological argument show that the Christian gospel is true or even probably true. It involves crucial and controversial claims about (among other things) God, revelation, sin, incar­ nation, resurrection, atonement, and the church. So any rational argument in favor of the claim that the Christian gospel is probable is going to face this damaging fact---even if you show that one crucial point in it has a cer­ tain fairly high degree of probability, that probability will be reduced when you try to argue for the high probability of the next crucial point, and the one after that, and etc. Each time a new point is added, the relevant proba­ bilities have to be multiplied. So there is no way that the entire package will end up with anything like a high degree of probability. Let me make two main points in response to Howard-Snyder's use of the DPA. The first has to do with the form and application of the argu­ ment. The second has to do with the actual probability numbers that he supplies to the premises of the MBG argument. (1) The form and application of the DPA. I should point out first that Howard-Snyder apparently is not deeply committed to the DPA. I read him as saying that if the proper way to assess the MBG argument is in terms of the probability calculus, then the DPA can be raised against it. In other words, Howard-Snyder is not asserting that this is indeed the proper way to evaluate the MBG argument, but he suspects that many people will hold that it is. Still, just in case those people are correct, I need to reply to Howard-Snyder's (so to speak) hypothetical use of the argument. The DPA is relevant to any inductive argument that amounts to a chain of probabilistic inferences. Suppose we are trying to argue on behalf of a hypothesis H. And suppose we argue as follows: "P, therefore very proba­ bly Q; Q, therefore very probably R; R, therefore very probably S; and S, therefore very probably H." In such a case, the dwindling probabilities objection can ruin the argument. This is because the probability numbers (once actual values are supplied) have to be multiplied at each step, and accordingly may well result in H having a value of less than 0.5. Plantinga's argument works against a certain way of doing natural theol­ ogy. For example, a natural theologian might first try to argue on the basis of our background knowledge that it is probable that God exists, and then try to argue on the basis of our background knowledge plus the probability of the 482 Faith and Philosophy claim that God exists that it is probable that God reveals things to human beings, and then try to argue on the basis of our background knowledge plus the probability of the claim that God exists plus the probability of the claim that God reveals things to human beings that it is probable that human beings are sinners, etc. At each new point, the probabilities will dirrtinish. Now there is some reason to think that Howard-Snyder holds that the MBG argument takes this form. On this interpretation, the MBG arguer must first show that the probability of premise (I), on our background knowledge, is high; and then show, on the basis of our background knowl­ edge and the probability of (I), that the probability of (4) is high; and then show, on the basis of our background knowledge and the probability of (1) and the probability of (4), that the probability of (5) is high; and finally show, on the basis of our background knowledge and the probability of (1) and the probability of (4) and the probability of (5), that the probability of (6) is high. Now if MBG arguers must present their case in this way, then the probabilities that will emerge at the end might well dwindle to the point of being unimpressive. However, this is not the logic of the MBG argument. What then is that logic? Using Howard-Snyder's version of it as a rough outline (but supply­ ing new numbers for the premises), it is more like this: 8. It is highly probable that (1) is true. 9. Now if (1) is true, Jesus' claim was either true or false. 10. If it was false, then either he was mad, bad, or merely mistaken. lOa. It is highly improbable that he was bad. lOb. It is highly improbable that he was mad. lac. It is highly improbable that he was merely mistaken. 11. Accordingly, it is highly improbable that Jesus' claim was false. 12. Accordingly, it is highly probable that Jesus' claim was true. Note that the arguments for anyone of steps (lOa), (lOb), or (lOc) do not depend probabilistically on the arguments for the other two. For example, the probability of the case that Jesus was not mad does not depend on the probability of the case that he was not bad, etc. This is the proper strategy of MBG arguers. First they try to show that it is highly probable on our background knowledge that Jesus claimed to be divine. Then they try to show that it is highly improbable on our back­ ground knowledge that Jesus was lying in claiming to be divine. Then they try to show that it is highly improbable on our background knowledge that Jesus was mad in claiming to be divine. Finally, they try to show that it is highly improbable on our background knowledge that Jesus was "merely mistaken" in claiming to be divine. If they can succeed in doing those things, then the probability will be high that Jesus was right in claiming to be divine.
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